Woman Asks if Chipotle Serves Leftovers in the Morning — and Gets Some Surprising Responses

If you ever seen an episode of Kitchen Nightmares, you might have heard of something like this before. In some of the restaurants that Chef Gordon Ramsay tears into, he sometimes finds out that the chefs "prepare" and serve dishes that are actually leftover from a day or two ago instead of being made fresh. He typically freaks out upon discovering this.

That said, he'd be absolutely livid if he found out what Chipotle is supposedly up to.

The popular "fast casual" Mexican grill is typically a go-to restaurant for anyone who wants creative Mexican-adjacent cuisine without having to resort to places like Taco Bell. But as a standard restaurant chain, you can expect some cut corners when it comes to food prep.

In fact, one woman on TikTok heard a rumor that Chipotle serves some of their leftovers as part of their morning service. Here's what she found out.

Popular TikTok foodie Katt (@spicyykatt) is no stranger to talking about her meals on her platform, but she sometimes finds herself asking some interesting questions about the stuff she eats. In early October 2023, she decided to try and address an odd rumor she heard about Chipotle ... while eating Chipotle.

Apparently, she had once heard that Chipotle serves their leftovers from the night before if you go too early.

"[I heard] it's not good to go to Chipotle at 11 a.m.," Katt discussed.

She called upon any of her 161,000+ followers to see if any of them work or previously worked at Chipotle so she could find out if this was at all true. Interestingly enough, some supposed former employees were totally willing to speak up on the subject.

Shockingly enough, some of them even admitted in the comments section that it's true! According to several commenters who claim to be Chipotle workers or former workers, Chipotle cooks will sometimes use their leftovers from the night before and serve them first thing in the morning before dipping into fresh items and ingredients for the day.

One worker even offered some advice for anyone who still wants some Chipotle for lunch.

"Best earliest time to come for the newest [and] freshest items is 12 p.m.," they claim.

Some folks even dove into more of the inner workings of a Chipotle kitchen. One person corroborated the leftovers claim, but added a few details.

"I used to work at Chipotle and [serving leftovers in the morning] is mostly true. We never saved the rice or fajitas though."

Another person exposed the process through which they serve their early morning orders.

"Everything goes in the walk-in pans with parchment paper over them till the morning and they get heated back up in the morning," they revealed.

Many also claim that this is the same for any fast-casual restaurant. Even for places that advertise fresh ingredients, it stands to reason that these quick-service places try to conserve ingredients and meals by any means necessary, even if that entails preparing some day-olds.

If nothing else, Katt still seemed to enjoy her own Chipotle meal in her video despite having gotten it during early morning leftover hours. If that's any indication, then there's probably nothing wrong with fast casual places like Chipotle repurposing some of their items.